With Leezahna trembling as she reports more Orichalcum missing, I freeze. This sounds more and more important. Still, what else can I do? I can’t even safely engage retrocognition at the moment to see if I’ve missed anything that my other senses would have picked up, since I’m voiding out signals for Littlebit. Gnawing my lower lip, I attempt to calm my visage and breathing so as to not frighten Leezahna.
Before I can ask how much, Leezahna knows what I’m about to ask, so she answers, “I, I’m pretty positive six units, um, almost positive at least.”
Still gnawing, I muse, “Six more, or—“
Leezahna interrupts me, “Yes, six more, I-I swear, Sc-Schism. I swear I—“
Interrupting her in turn, I reassure Leezahna, “I know, I know, it’s alright. You’ve already proven yourself an excellent quartermaster Leezahna. I trust you on this. Hell, I appreciate you for catching it even. I’m just confused on whether we have a saboteur, or just hungry, covetous, or greedy residents. In cases like these, I’m prepared to assume and prepare for the worst, while hoping for the best.”
Still trembling slightly, Leezahna raises an eyebrow, cluing me in that she’s curious what the worst might be, so I explain, “If we do have a saboteur, someone stealing them for some unknown purpose, they could certainly have been hitting us harder, doing much more damage than stealing a few percent of our respawning resources. They could end the respawning power entirely, or, or,” I gulp, my feelings caught in my throat, unable to bring myself to say the other things that a saboteur could take from us.
Nodding somberly, Leezahna catches on to my train of thought. Her eyes submit a plea, and I nod my assent. In moments, Leezahna is scurrying away out of the Verdimenn project space towards Solace, to see her mother. Like I was ruminating about the other night, I can’t promise that a person shouldn’t be acting on their last desires. Drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die indeed.
Err—I should probably try to be a bit more optimistic when so many people nearby can hear my thoughts—I’m um, sure we’ve got this handled. Sure, right? Still, what could someone do with nine, no wait, ten sheets of Orichalcum? Well, if they have anyone as inventive as Nala and Littlebit, quite a hell of a lot. Crap. I need a breakdown of Orichalcum’s properties, stat.
Hustling back into the tinkering workspace, I don’t even have to ask Nala before she begins apprising me of Orichalcum’s unique properties. Nala, with an air of condescension so natural, one might mistake it for her baseline demeanor, rolls of her eyes slightly.
As though preparing to explain quantum physics to a toddler, she begins, “Well, its intrinsic properties include is near indestructibility, sitting just a tad below Adamantite in terms of durability. Its susceptibility to acid erosion is far greater than that of Adamantite, which, while seemingly a weakness, actually lends itself to unique applications in alchemy and crafting. Not that the untrained mind would consider such a nuance without it being pointed out.”
Shifting her weight, Nala continues, “And let’s not forget its near-weightlessness—a property due to its magical vibratory frequencies. Quite fascinating, really, if you have the capacity to grasp the interplay between its molecular structure and arcane energies. This makes Orichalcum uniquely valuable for constructs requiring strength without the burden of weight. Ingenious, really. Though, I wouldn’t expect just anyone to understand the complex interplay at work.”
With a dismissive wave of her hand, as if to clear the air of the ignorance she assumes is permeating it, she adds, “Furthermore, Orichalcum's magical properties allow it to resonate with certain spells and enchantments in ways other metals cannot. This... synergistic effect—for lack of a more appropriate term that might be more readily digestible—amplifies its utility in magical engineering and artifact creation.”
She surveys her audience, me, her expression softening ever so slightly as if she's just remembered she's speaking to a fellow sapient being rather than an inanimate object. Clearing her throat as the scales on her cheeks color slightly with the blush hidden beneath them, Nala continues, “So, you see, Orichalcum isn’t just ‘another metal’—it's a cornerstone of advanced magical technology and craftsmanship. Its theft isn’t merely inconvenient; it could be catastrophic, depending on the intentions behind such actions. But I'm sure that's already occurred to you.”
With that, she straightens up, her piece said, leaving no doubt that in her mind that there's little more to add that could possibly enhance the understanding she has so generously imparted. The not-so-subtle reminder of why our grumpy librarian’s abrasive personality earns her few friendships causes me to flash her a sad half-smile and a pitying glance. There’s only a momentary ruefulness along one of her deeper emotional wavelengths, but she knows she doesn’t owe me any apologies, despite having come across as patronizingly as she did. Not that I’d expect her to leap at the opportunity to apologize for abrasively delivering information anyway.
As if to demonstrate the points she’d just made, Nala sets out a small slab of Orichalcum. She douses a corner of it in acid, and, while it’s obviously more durable than some of the objects around it, it definitely proves susceptible. Further, Nala sets it near the edge of her workspace, between her and Littlebit’s projects.
Reaching across the table she’s working at, Nala allows one of her clankers—as Littlebit calls them anyway—to leap to her palm. It then proceeds to scurry up her arm towards her shoulder. Once there, the little robot leans to one side, and extends mechanical armature in order to place a telescoping lens in front of Nala’s right eye, allowing her a microscopic view of whatever tinkering project she’s working on. Apparently Nala uses it to precisely target some sort of vibratory wave generator. Wait. A wave motion cannon? In an area with other-realm signals being voided out by my void-presence? Crap on a cracker!
Leaping, I tackle Nala to the side while using my telekinesis to shove Littlebit out of the line of fire. Littlebit falls away from where she sat directly across the table from Nala. Just in time, I manage to get the two tinkers away from the epicenter of a phenomenon with which I am all-too familiar. A simultaneously implosion and explosion tears through the tinkering workspace. My telekinetic squares shield Littlebit while my body shields a suddenly very-stunned Nala.
The entangling intertwining of magics and technologies short-circuits several of my own enchantments and items, sending all my items into the quick-change ring. Probably for the best, as a segment of my back and spine are shunted away into the void of a black hole. Calling it agonizing is an understatement. But if there’s one thing Reggie Shellcracker is used-to, it’s nothing. Heh, erm, the void anyway. I reclaim my lost flesh near-instantly, repeatedly, as waves oscillate and pulsate through the phenomenon for the several moments it lasts.
When it finishes, the tinkering workspace is in-shambles, and Nala is terribly chagrined. She mutters, “The interplay at work was, was unexpected. Miss Bitty, are you alright? Friend Reggie, would you remove your personage from my own, please?”
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Blushing and wearing a rueful smile, I shake my head while sighing and standing myself off of Nala. Littlebit is sitting in a pile of scrap, blinking, stunned. Nala continues, “Erm, that is to say, thank you for the save, friend Reggie. I’m sorry Miss Bitty, I wasn’t aware such a reaction was even a possibility. Perhaps Schism could elucidate us as to how their signal nullification for your sensor project works?”
Puffing my cheeks while passing my breath through pursed lips, I feel a bit off-put, or put-on, I’m not sure which. Still, even if it does shift some of the blame my way, I guess it’s only fair. I hadn’t expected someone to invent a miniature wave motion cannon and to use it in an enclosed space that’d been wave-nullified by my void-presence. Running my hand through my hair, and once again accidentally bumping horns that I forget that I have, I puff another breath as I contemplate an answer.
Starting with as much as I can surmise, I grouse a bit, “Well, signals are waves, y’know? Matter is particles, signals and energies are waves. There are some strange, powerful signals down here, like Littlebit said. They were enough to absolutely blow the crap out of her sensors repeatedly. To nullify them, I had to nullify a broad band across the spectrum of available frequencies in UV, electromagnetic, and radio and so on. This sent them bouncing back against each other at the edges of the small area.”
Taking a moment, I conclude explaining the effects of my efforts, “So I essentially made a—well—a low-pressure zone, with two high pressure zones at its edges. There’s of course the one pushing outward to keep the signals at bay, and the other one being the original powerful signals in the first place that aim to regain entry into the area.”
Nala facepalms, realizing what had happened. She basically tore open a bubbled explosion waiting to happen. One that existed within a sort of vacuum. Thus near-simultaneous implosion and explosion. I’m just glad I’d isolated it to within the tinkering workspace. Sadly I hadn’t reacted quickly enough to protect all of the little automatons and clankers that Nala and Littlebit had wandering about the space. It was all I could do to protect the two artificers.
Littlebit absolves me, “It’s okay Tiger, I’ll patch up my pals pronto. We just, well, might be waiting a while to progress on our ‘Twixt project with this setback. Sorry hun.”
Nala looks downright abashed now, and seemingly has no words. I flash her a half-sad neutral expression, it being about the best I can do to absolve her at the moment. Although, hm. I wonder. Nala’s action might actually end up being exactly what we need to do, in a controlled manner, in order to reach the ‘Twixt. Nala and Littlebit both perk up, and suddenly the rapid-fire tech-talk dialogue between the two sets my eyes spinning. I’m just going to leave the cleanup, and new line of query up to the two tinkerers.
Well, that’s one issue tackled. Sort of. Heh. I’ll leave this up to the pair of them, and their very capable hands. With just a raised brow to remind them to carry out the rest of their experiments safely, I telekinetically surf away, stopping momentarily to hug Alanea and let her know to keep an eye on the pair of them. She chuckles, and wears a confused expression upon hearing about the cause of the implexplosion, but agrees regardless.
Stopping to gather a few things from the pile of unsorted artifacts, and to snag a few road supplies from our digital shop structure, I take stock of myself. Somehow, between being connected to Lil, my own dragonforces, absorbing my lycanthrope form into my base form, and my attunement to the void, I’m relatively uninjured. I’ve used up a single free use of one of my spells for the day, and have about six hundred ninety-six SP available. Hm, digging through these artifacts from ol’ Alpacker’s hoard, these couple of items I’d like to have Lu utilize, in case she ends up needing to fend off the Damnations. When Lucky gets back, he can stay with her from this point forward in the war, and he’ll be able to amplify the abilities of these items with Luni.
I mean, the wand is basically an unmelting icicle, so I’m pretty certain I know what it does. The same with that runic fragment as well. Between Lu and Lucky working together, and the nature of the battlefield likely being above the Worldstorm, creating massive hail-filled clouds and freezing mist could be pretty good deterrents against the colossal flying monstrosities. Not to mention low temperature tightening their dactyl leathers, making them brittle, more easily torn and such. I’m rambling. Luni will know what to do. Freeze a wing, shatter it with thunder from her blast-happy scepter, and the Damnations won’t be screwing around with her again any time soon.
Hell, if we can ground them somewhere on the far side of Solace, they might not even be a threat until the end of the war, depending on their realms, domains, minions, and so on. Actually, based on what I know about them, from what Induul implied, and what has been mentioned over my time with the Onyx Dawn, I bet they don’t have minions beyond the Evil Claws. I would almost believe that they’ve been dormant, so that the Celes—they were. The Celestial Emperor couldn’t focus on the fragments inhabiting them, until he’d accomplished enough to move into his endgame.
We’re in *his* endgame. That thought is more than a little unsettling. How much is still going according to his plans? I’m, I’m just not smart enough to figure it out. It’s more instinct than anything else that tells me I’ve more often than not played into his hand. I’m pretty certain last night was a fiasco for him though. Can we keep it up? Can we keep being a wrench in the works of his grand plan just by focusing on our war? Or do we have to tackle bits of his machinations while they’re in motion, while simultaneously fighting nearly ninety percent of dragonkin and dragonkind on Rayileklia?
I’ll bring up the idea of a surgical strike against the tower at Navica at some point. Right now though, we’re in a hell-of-a swingy state in the war. I can’t afford to divert our attention. Plus, there’s still the threat of several prophecies hanging over our heads. How many of them are going to come true? How many have we diverted? How many can we divert? Huff. I need to finish taking stock of my assets for the day.
Zorro is snoozing alongside the egg in my pouch. My body is mostly in top-form again, somehow, for one reason or another. I’ve got the crossbow bolts, runic clips, a few potions, the Cosmic Roundsheathe with its full charges. Frostburn’s slash is ready, my daily abilities other than the one cone of cold are off cooldown, most of my internals and self-made abilities are ready, other than my lycanthrope form having been destroyed. I guess I’m as prepped as I can be for taking down the leaders of a domain or two. I guess I’ll get Farzhis and Veril to take me towards Terrorzin’s deeper domain, and be my backup as I go do what I do best. Be annoying.
Having been a few hours, I have to verify where everyone is. Lucky, Lil, Shiz, and the Spellknights are making shows of force at Mydraig’s domain. They’ve gotten a few small troops to lay down their arms in surrender, but most are battling tooth-and-nail to the death, unfortunately. Speaking of death, tears fall down my cheeks as I float through the forgeworks where people are mourning fallen friends, hacking apart mite-hulks, creating send-off pyres, and so on. It’s a harsh reminder that this is a war, a real war.
Deli nods my way, and I levitate the several crates of booze I’d just purchased from the shop while taking stock of things. I figure we’re going to need some alcohol for mourning gatherings, or life celebrations, or both. Whatever passes for funerals in these parts. I can see the query in her eyes, on if we’re about to share a drink so I can get her tale from her, about her name, but now isn’t the right time. I hate to disappoint her, but she seems to understand why I’m shaking my head.
While I’m shaking my head, my stomach rumbles, but I ignore it. The day has only just begun, and Kinzul and Iylynila are both somewhere off-grid, Induul is nowhere to be found, my son and my best friend are out waging war with new allies at their sides, and so much more is happening. There’s the tome, the missing Orichalcum, our ‘Neath trio is back and probably has a tale to tell. We’ve got bodies, from several sides, to consider, though with dragonkind I guess they mostly eat their dead. Oh, oh the flour. That might actually be a sort of bonemeal, since I don’t see wheat-fields being tended to by anyone from Solace. Eugh. Maybe they send some human-form dragons to trade with humans, or did in the past, before the Celestial Emperor stole everyone’s souls.